Changed By You
by Awesome one
Summary: Quinn struggles to find the right song in which to show Rachel how she feels about her. Finally, when she does find it, she also finds herself under Rachel's window at 2 in the morning.


**This fic was born from my going through my old itunes and stumbling across a song I forgot I had on there. While I was listening to it, I realized it was the absolutely perfect song to sum up Faberry feelings. In my option anyway. So I just couldn't resist. And here we are. Enjoy. **

It had been a month. A month since one Rachel Berry had come to one Quinn Fabray and asked in a shaky yet assertive voice if the blonde should like to join the shorter brunette in a sleep over at the Berry household.

A month ago Quinn had been having a very bad day and was in sore need of companionship outside of Santana's crude humor and Brittney's bubbly persona. A month ago, due to Quinn's somber disposition, she had taken Rachel up on the invitation.

On that day, a month ago, a friendship was born. Not an average one or even an unstable, unhealthy one like Quinn had with Santana. This friendship with Rachel was weaved from iron to support Quinn's battered heart. Since that sleepover with Rachel the brunette made damn sure to greet Quinn with a 'good morning' text as soon as she awoke and a 'sweet dreams' text just before Quinn fell asleep. Rachel had taken it upon herself to walk beside Quinn in the halls so she could carry the blonde's books, sit beside her at lunch instead of going into the auditorium, give her a ride home under the pretense of saving gas, bought her new things here and there, even gone as far as to massage the kinks from her muscles after Cheerio practice. Most importantly to Quinn, Rachel cared. Really, honestly cared about Quinn. All of her likes, her dislikes, what bothered her, and what made her smile. Rachel cared about all that and more if it had to do with Quinn and that felt absolutely amazing.

Another month passed and Quinn Fabray not so surprisingly found herself locked in a stall in the girls bathroom, palms pressed flat against the stall walls, chest heaving, with manic tears rolling down her cheeks due to the realization of her romantic infatuation with Rachel Berry. Now normally, calm reserved Quinn would not have let herself fall into such a crazed emotional state but her mind was rolling around on itself with insanity so it couldn't be helped. The moment it really sunk in was when Rachel had smiled apologetically at Quinn after having been slushied because in the process of the drink being thrown a little of it had splashed onto Quinn's pristine white sneakers. The fact that Rachel would feel guilty for that after having ounces of frozen dyed ice thrown on her made Quinn's heart melt right through her in adoration. And not the friendly kind. The kind that made Quinn want to scoop the brunette up and kiss those grape stained lips warm again. Thus resulting to the current sob filled panic going on inside the locked stall. After fighting with her inner angels and demons for over two periods Quinn decided to go out in a true Fabray fashion. That being to shove all unwanted (rather, inappropriate not unwanted) feelings for Rachel deep down inside her already tangled soul, never to be seen again.

That plan worked for about another month in half before Quinn just couldn't lie to herself anymore. It had become increasingly hard to just ignore her longing for Rachel, as it had grown and continued to grow with each passing day until it just couldn't be ignored for another second. So finally Quinn grasped and held onto the fact that, yes, good girl Christian Quinn Fabray was irrevocably in love with Rachel Can't-be-silenced Berry. Of course the moment Quinn whispered the words to herself in the dark of her room a late night when she couldn't sleep, it had felt amazing. So amazing in fact that Quinn had whispered it three more times before falling asleep with the words on her lips. In the morning an extra bounce could be found in the cheerleaders step as she skipped up to hug the object of her immense affections with a grin in place the entire time.

Which brought Quinn to the present, lips drawn tight in trepidation while she stared up at the off white of her ceiling. Yes she had finally let herself come to terms with both her liking Rachel and inevitable questioning of her sexuality but even with that in place, she had no idea what to do next. Should she attempt wooing Rachel? How would she even do that? It can't be the same as wooing a guy would be. Could she just outright tell Rachel how she feels? What if the short, gorgeous girl of her dreams didn't feel the same?

"Oh god." Quinn groaned in frustration, slapping her hand over her eyes. Why did loving Rachel have to be so damn complicated? If Rachel were a guy this would be so much easier. All Quinn would need to do is lean in, touch her arm, and bat her eyelashes while she told her she liked her. But alas! Rachel was in fact a girl not a guy who thinks with his cock like Puck or a dumbass like Finn. Hell, even if Rachel were like Sam this could make things ten times simpler. At least then Quinn would be in familiar territory and she'd have her girl.

A dopey smile crept to her face at that thought. Rachel-her girl. God, that sounded amazing.

She groaned again and roll onto her flat stomach with a loud huff, pressing her nose into her pillow. Maybe if she suffocated herself then all this trouble would soon pass away? Yeah. Right. Not likely. Then she would be stuck loving Rachel in the afterlife to no end. That would be even worst than now.

"Okay, okay I just have to go off what I know," Quinn spoke to herself, sitting upright in her bed and slapping her fist purposefully into the palm of her other hand, "and what I know is…Rachel. I know Rachel. Right. That's good."

Now feeling somewhat better that she had something, even though it meant nothing, Quinn jumped from her bed to pace on the rug beside it. Her hands folded behind her back while she gnawed on her lower lip in deep thought.

She knew Rachel. She knew-

"Oh for fucks sake. How does that help me at all!" Quinn rolled her eyes at herself, not stomping her feet loudly as she went back and forth.

Sure Quinn knew Rachel. She knew that Rachel was at times a bit OCD and had a sweet tooth for double chocolate chip espresso vegan cookies. She knew that Rachel was going to be on Broadway someday soon. She knew that Rachel liked reading before bed and not-so-secretly she was a hopeless romantic. She knew Rachel's favorite things. Her schedule both in and out of school, her locker combo, her fascination with particular breed of blue eyed dogs, her love of music-Quinn's pacing ceased instantly as it struck her.

Of course. Music. What better way to get Rachel's attention than with a song? Why hadn't Quinn thought of this sooner? It had been so simple!

"Damn it. I can be stupid sometimes." Yet she began pacing again, chewing at her lip incessantly like before while she pondered the song she would sing to Rachel. Thoughts of Broadway love songs flashed though her thoughts but burned out just as quickly. Broadway was Rachel's thing, not Quinn's. If she was going to do this then she would do it her way. Besides, there no possible way Quinn had the self confidence in her vocals for any song off Broadway. With anything coming from the strange crossed off her mental list, Quinn began thinking over romantic songs that were popular. Maybe that Aerosmith song that was on Armageddon? I Don't Want to Miss a Thing. Or she could be foreword and sing the song I Want You to Want Me. She smirked. Rachel would not approve of either of those. Marvin Gaye, Barry Manilow, George Michael, Rihanna, Van Morrison, Etta James, Fleetwood Mac, U2, Seal, Mariah Carey-She even briefly considered Crazy On You by Heart-they were all singers of great love songs but none of them seemed to click for Quinn.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Quinn sunk back into her bed with her matte grey laptop open in her lap, slender fingers clicking at the keyboard. Where she had failed, Google may prevail.

After nearly an hour of endless searching and scouring the internet, Quinn had found it. The perfect song. It was soft yet sweet, slow but gorgeous, and more importantly the vocals weren't to extravagant so Quinn would be suited perfectly for it. God forbid her voice crack or go flat during her performance. Thankfully, this song wouldn't allow for that to be a possibility. Plus, the words were absolute gold. It would have Rachel swooning and in happy tears (hopefully) by the end, leaving no room for speculation as to Quinn's meaning behind the words.

Quinn spent the next two weeks learning how to play the song on the piano and sing it to perfection. Another week was spent on her delivery. Singing it to Rachel in Glee was out of the question. Sure she may be okay with loving Rachel but she wasn't quite ready for everyone to know. Even if it was just Glee Clubbers. Besides she still wasn't sure how Rachel would react and if it was negative she didn't want to put Rachel through the humiliation of it being in front of others. Singing to Rachel in her own home would be awkward considering that Judy would be lurking somewhere near listening in and vise versa the Berry men would certainly be all ears if Quinn were to blaze in announcing she wanted to use the grand piano downstairs. Like those small obstacles would hinder Quinn in her conquest for Rachel's heart. She just simply had to get creative.

Creative turned out to be a cordless keyboard on a stand underneath Rachel's second story after Quinn was sure the Berry men were in bed. Under the blazing stars, Quinn double checked to make sure the keyboard was in tune and took one more swig of her warm lemon water (something she had seen Rachel do before a performance) to loosen her throat up a bit. Then, it was show time.

She struggled a bit to get her iPhone out of her jeans due to her nervous trembling and it took even longer to dial Rachel's number before she finally heard Rachel's silky voice through the speaker of the phone.

"Hello?" Just a hello from Rachel made Quinn's eyes flutter shut, a smile tugging at her lips. Rachel's voice was so rich and low when it was thick with sleep.

"Hey Rach."

"Quinn?' There was a pause filled with the sound of fumbling accompanied by a few cute yawns, "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

Frowning Quinn pulled her phone from her ear to check the clock briefly-1:45 a.m.-then brought it back, chuckling into the mouth piece, "Sleep is over rated anyway. I have a surprise for you."

She heard Rachel rustle under her comforter before throwing it off with a sigh, "Quinn can't this wait until morning?"

"It _is_ morning Rach."

Another sigh, "Quinn-"

"No this can't wait until morning. I have zero intension of staying out here all night."

The pause this time lasted a lot longer with no sounds to fill it except Rachel's breathing until, "What do you mean 'out here'? Where are you?" Quinn was pleased to note that Rachel was taking the time to slowly annunciate each word meaning she was waking up.

"Get out of bed."

"Why-" "Please?"

There was a huff and a lot of grumbling then, "Okay I'm up. Even when I need this sleep, mind you, so this better be important."

Quinn smiled up at the window she knew her love was behind, her nerves doubling as the excitement of what she was about to do set in, "Come to your window. Open it."

"Quinn…if your standing out there in the cold at this time of night I swear I'm going to-"

"Just do it Berry." Quinn shook her head slightly. She loved the girl, really she did, but she _was _Rachel Berry after all, and anyone who knows Rachel Berry, knows she can be quite nerve grating at times.

"Fine." The blonde watched eagerly from below up to the moment Rachel's pink curtains parted to reveal a disheveled pajama clad Rachel, phone pressed to her ear pushing her window open. Quinn beamed up at her, wiggling her fingers in a small wave. Rachel shook her head but, much to Quinn's pleasure, smiled smally and waved back.

"Care to explain why your standing under my window at 2 in the morning leaning all cool like against a keyboard Ms. Fabray?" Rachel leaned out the window a little, eyes narrowing at the aforementioned instrument, "One that looks like it came straight out of the Choir room."

The cheerleader looked away from her girl to tap her fingers against the black plastic of the keyboard, blushing lightly, "Well…I may have asked Santana to borrow it for me." "You asked Santana to _steal_ from the Glee Club!"

Quinn shot her gaze back up to an outraged Rachel, shaking her head furiously, hurrying to correct her, "No! She asked Mr. Schuester for me! Or, at least, that's what she told me she did….either way I'm going to return it. I promise."

Rachel folded her free arm across her abdomen, glaring at Quinn form afar, "You had better."

"I will. Anyway, the reason behind my having Santana borrow/possibly steal this keyboard for me was because I want to sing a song for you."

Above, Rachel's annoyance melted from her features, replaced with an eager smile and bright eyes, "Really!"

"Yeah. But I couldn't sing it to you in glee or in your house."

"Why not? Is it vulgar? Quinn Fabray you know how I feel about obscenities."

Quinn rolled her eyes but couldn't help the smile making her cheeks hurt because, damn it, she loved this girl, "No Rach. It's not vulgar. You'll see why I couldn't. I'm going to hang up now."

"Okay…"

After ending the call Quinn quickly shoved her phone in her pocket and set her well rehearsed fingers on the keys. This was it. Quinn was going to play this song, sing her feelings to Rachel, and pray to the God she feared that Rachel would feel the same. It all came down to this.

She took in a slow lung full of air for peace of mind and blew it out even slower through her nose to rid herself of all negative nerves.

Then she started to play.

Soft sounds of a quiet intro filled the night like a hushed lullaby. They came out sounding smooth due to the many hours of practice Quinn had put into memorizing this song note for note, word by word. She had wanted it to be perfect and now it sounded perfect.

Rachel was swaying softly, clutching her phone to her chest, her chocolate eyes locked on Quinn's pale figure playing for her in the moonlight.

The intro wore away quicker than Quinn remembered, urging for her voice to lay over the melodious chords filling the air.

_Please wait while I slowly untie my tongue tonight_

_I pray by some feeble attempt_

_My words would tell you what my heart has to say_

Quinn looked up from her playing to see what was going on with Rachel. She had to know if this was starting well. Judging from Rachel's wide eyes and the hand she had pressed over her lips…well she couldn't be sure. Ignoring the painful spike shot down her spine her thoughts of possible rejection caused, Quinn shut her eyes tight and threw herself back into the lyrics.

_Cause you've always been right beside me for so many days_

_How could I be without you now_

Hazel eyes fluttered open, the emotion of singing this to her love now controlling her actions. Quinn needed to be looking into Rachel's eyes when she sang the chorus, she needed Rachel to look into her eyes and see that Quinn was singing this from the bottom of her heart.

_Cause I am changed by you_

_The more I get to know you_

_The more I want you close to me_

_And I'll take care of you_

_Please just say you love me_

_Forever be whatever you need_

Quinn assumed that Rachel would be the one in tears yet in reality, the pressure building up behind her nose and the string it created indicated imminent tears would be falling from her own eyes instead. That wasn't suppose to happen. Just as quick as she felt the first tear squeeze out she shut her eyes tight. No crying. That was unprofessional. No, no, no stop crying Fabray! Just fucking sing.

_And so if your supposed to get what you deserve in life_

_And you came just in the knick of time_

_God's grace has overtaken me_

_My love, needless to say I am blessed by you_

_Cause you are the one_

_You are the one I've been waiting for_

_I've been waiting for_

Quinn opened her eyes at the utterance of her name. Rachel's eyes were wet with unshed tears but burning dark and staring deeply into Quinn's swirling eyes. It was such a shock that Quinn nearly faltered in her playing, chocking on air instead of singing the chorus again. Rachel smiling like Quinn had never seen before steeled her resolve to keep going, adding another deeper layer of adoration to coat each harmonic word falling from her lips.

_And I am changed by you_

_The more I get to know you_

_The more I want you close to me_

_And I'll take care of you_

_Please just say you love me_

_Forever be whatever you need_

And from somewhere inside her, Quinn reached deep to throw every single feeling, every once of love Quinn had for Rachel into the rest of the song.

_You knock my fears away_

_And reach inside me with your eyes_

_And light a burning fire_

_And I can not stop staring _

_And I am changed by you_

_The more I get to know you_

_The more I want you close to me_

_And I'll take care of you_

_Please just say you love me_

_Forever be whatever you need_

Music was suppose to continue to fill the air for a few more minutes, bringing the song the an end after the climatic build up in the middle but with the combination of Quinn's nerves coming back full force and the look Rachel was giving her made her stop. Instead she stood there with her chest heaving, handing hanging limply at her sides while she gazed up and into Rachel's darkened eyes spilling over silent tears.

Long, soundless minutes passed with just that. Rachel continued to stare, no other emotion showing except for the many swirling around in those dark, gorgeous eyes.

The sound of her phone ringing startled Quinn out of her Rachel stupor.

Quinn studiously brought it to her ear, only able to whisper out a, "Hello?"

"Quinn. Come up stairs. The door is unlocked."

Quinn nodded dumbly at Rachel, started to walk away but faltered, glancing back at the stolen keyboard, "What about that?"

"I don't care. Just get up her. Now."

Quinn hadn't moved so fast in her life. She didn't even end the call until she was standing in front of Rachel in her room.

Now that she was before her, Quinn noticed a few things. One being that Rachel was breathing harder than Quinn had been after singing, her plump bottom lip was taught between her teeth, and her hair was wet. Quinn went through Rachel's nightly routine in her head, realizing only now that the cheerleader had arrived just a few minutes after Rachel had gotten out of her shower. The mussed, dripping hair coupled with darkened shining eyes and those tantalizing lips being chewed on drove Quinn mad. Quinn dug her nails into the palms of her hands to prevent herself from lunging at Rachel.

"Quinn," Rachel's voice was rich and low again but it didn't sound like it was from sleep and Quinn shivered a little, "That was…wow. The sweetest, most romantic, wonderful thing anyone has ever done for me. I'm seriously at a loss for words."

Now it was Quinn biting her lip, failing to notice the small steps Rachel was taking towards her since her eyes were downcast from shy embarrassment, "That's a good thing right?"

Rachel's soft laugh was a lot closer than Quinn remembered and when she looked up Rachel was right there. Only a breath away. A breath Quinn had suddenly lost, now trapped in her lungs as she held it there and her lower lip trembled in anticipation for something that might not come.

"Yes. It is. God, it is. You are." As if she wasn't close enough to give Quinn heart palpitations before, Rachel stepped closer bringing her fingertips to rest lightly on the cheerleaders warm cheek. Yeah, who needs to breath. Not Quinn.

"Rach…"

Said girl let out a contented sigh, leaning heavily into Quinn and resting her forehead against the blonde's chin, "How long have you felt this way about me Quinn?"

Quinn couldn't seem to remember right now with Rachel so damn close. Touching her all over and literally right there. All that was processing in her head was that somehow her arms were around Rachel's waist, her fingers unashamedly pushing up the hem of Rachel's top to caress the smooth skin of the small of her back. The way Rachel's breath hitched at the touch. How that same reaction to Quinn's touching her spiking Quinn into nudging Rachel up with the very chin she rested against.

After that, Quinn's brain died. Nothing was functioning. Because she was kissing Rachel Berry. And Rachel Berry was kissing her back. Those soft, supple lips were pressed sweetly against hers, working Quinn's bottom lip between hers, dragging a quieted moan from the blond when Rachel darted her hot tongue out to swipe it.

Quinn didn't know how long they kissed. Or when she had somehow ended up pressed to Rachel's door, both of her hands gripping handfuls of Rachel's top. But she was complaining. At least, not until Rachel took her lips back, panting again only harder this time. She disentangled her long fingers from Quinn's hair to drag them down and splay them across Quinn's stomach as she pressed her body against Quinn, humming in satisfaction the closeness brought her. Quinn simply watched the interaction with her breath still stuck in her throat.

"How long Quinn?" Rachel peered up at Quinn through heavily lidded eyes. Quinn licked her lips, savoring the leftover tastes of Rachel left there.

"Since our first sleepover. Few months ago."

The shorter girl hummed again, moving her hands again to clasp Quinn's. Their fingers wove together between them, anchoring them to one another in that dark moment early in the morning. It was a silent conversation, the holding of one another's hands, but a very potent one. Speaking words of love, promises, acceptance, and the reciprocation of Quinn's feelings. The last bit being Quinn's favorite. Rachel didn't have to ask if Quinn had meant what she had sang because she_ knew_. She knew just by listening. Anyone who had heard would known. And Quinn knew, in that moment when Rachel her hands and her eyes, that Rachel felt the same. Sheer happiness enveloped Quinn, fighting for the happiest Quinn had ever been in her life. She surged foreword and captured those lips she loved so much. Rachel gave no resistance, merely smiling into the kiss as she wrapped her arms around Quinn's slender shoulders.

It had been a month since Rachel had kissed Quinn. And, now as laid in her bed with Rachel curled against her side, Quinn had never been so in love.

**And there is it. The song is called Changed By You by Between the Trees. I strongly advise you listen to it. It's gorgeous. Hoped you liked the fic. Let me know what you think. **


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